Devin Booker wants to stay in Phoenix for entire career, that would be rarified air

Devin Booker reportedly wants to remain with the Phoenix Suns for the entirety of his NBA career.

Ahead of the Nov. 4 matchup against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, Booker said Curry’s longevity with his own franchise is “something special,” according to reporting from The Athletic’s Nick Friedell.

“I know (Curry) holds a special place in everybody’s heart here in the Bay,” Booker said per Friedell’s article. “And I feel a similar type of love in Phoenix. It’s something special. It’s kind of hard to explain, but there’s a different type of love that comes with it. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Booker went on to muse about players like Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers), Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks) and Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs) who only laced up their sneakers for one NBA franchise.

That type of loyalty is difficult to come by in the NBA (or any sport, really).

Not only do players have to feel a sense of commitment to whatever organization drafts them, but the organization itself — sometimes through changing ownership, different coaches or shifting general managers — also must reciprocate.

It’s a rare feat even for the league’s stars to stay in one place. That’s especially true now in an era of player empowerment — forcing trades and chasing rings and/or money in free agency.

So, has any player in Suns history ever played out the entirety of their career in Phoenix?

Few NBA players have played exclusively for the Phoenix Suns in their careers

If you set the benchmark at just 200 career games, there have been seven players in Suns history to reach that threshold while playing all of their NBA minutes for Phoenix. If you up the count to at least 600 career games played, the number drops to three.

That trio includes Alvin Scott (627 games), Booker (681 games and counting) and Alvan Adams (988 games). Scott was a bench player who played all eight of his NBA seasons for the Suns from 1977-1985. He was out of the league before he reached his 30s.

That leaves just Book and Adams, the latter of which currently sits at 300-plus more games played in a Suns jersey by comparison. Adams still carries the torch of longevity in Suns-only lore by default, but he’s one of a handful of NBA players to peak during their rookie campaign.

Adams won Rookie of the Year and was named to his first and only All-Star team during the 1975-76 season. That team also reached the NBA Finals, ultimately falling in six games against the Boston Celtics. Not too shabby for your first year in the league.

But Adams never made another All-Star team in his career, whereas Booker at age 29 has already been to four (including two All-NBA nods). Booker also became the Suns’ all-time leading scorer before his 30th birthday, surpassing the late great Walter Davis’ 15,666 Suns points.

You could easily argue that Booker is the greatest Suns-only player in the history of the franchise. That being said, Adams still holds a commanding lead in terms of win shares (73.5 compared to Booker’s 52.5 at the time of writing).

Of course, Adams played 13 seasons compared to Booker’s 10-plus so far, so it’s not an apples to apples comparison. However, Adams’ consistency and ability to avoid injury is a big reason why. “The Oklahoma Kid” played in at least 70 games in 12 of his 13 professional seasons.

By contrast, Booker has played a minimum of 70 games in just four of his 10 full seasons. Book still has a ways to go before he catches Adams, the franchise’s all-time leader in games played, but he should ultimately get there if he stays healthy.

It remains to be seen if Booker will play out the remainder of his career with the team that drafted him at No. 13 overall in the 2015 NBA draft. But as the truest face of the franchise the organization has known in quite a while, the organization's all-time leading scorer and a player who genuinely seems to care about the community in Phoenix, I wouldn’t doubt him joining Adams as a Suns lifer.